Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Exactly. If the person's private insurance covers the charge in another level 2 hospital or a level 3 public hospital, why then should he or she be liable for the charge in a smaller hospital? There should be no exclusions. I can understand the differentiation in regard to the more expensive hospitals but I am speaking about small, local, public hospitals with a small number of private single rooms. We should be encouraging people to use their local hospitals. There should be across the board blanket cover on all of the level 2 hospitals because they are all public hospitals and that benefits our health service.